Floor treating apparatus

ABSTRACT

A carpet sweeper having a support which mounts several groundengaging wheels rotatable in clockwise and counterclockwise directions in response to movement of the support in opposite directions. Each wheel drives a rotary brush by way of one or two spur gears in such a way that the brush rotates in a single direction irrespective of the direction of rotation of the respective wheel.

Q United States Patent [15] 3,638,267

Liebscher 5] Feb. 1, 1972 [54] FLOOR TREATING APPARATUS 1,972,870 9/1934 Christesen ..15/41 A [121 my Liebschm Nassau/Lam, 23331323 5/132? 3333;! 115/41 R [73] Assignee: Gunter Leifheit K.G., Nassau/Lahn, Ger- FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS many 1,100,695 1/1968 Great Britain ..l5/41 R [22] led: June 1969 Primary Examiner-Edward L. Roberts [21] Appl. No.: 832,950 Attorney-Michael S. Striker [57] ABSTRACT [52] US. Cl. ..l5/41R [51] lnt.Cl. ..A47l 11/33 A carpet Sweeper having a pp which mounts several 58] Field of Search ..l5/4l-48, 79, 9s, ground-engaging wheels rotatable in clockwise and comer- 15/49 C, 388; 56/4Q0 O2 clockwise directions in response to movement of the support in opposite directions. Each wheel drives a rotary brush by [56] References Cited way of one or two spur gears in such a way that the brush rotates in a single direction irrespective of the direction of UNITED STATES PATENTS rotation of the respective wheel.

2,625,698 1/1953 De Kadt et al ..l5/45 11 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTED FEB! I972 sum 2 or 2 FIG 3 FIG.4

INVENTOR.

JOHANNES LIEBSCHER FLOOR TREATING APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention in general relates to a floor-treating apparatus and more particularly to a carpet sweeper with sweeper brushes which rotate in a given direction in response to movement of the carpet sweeper along the floor in either direction whereby the brush receives motion from a floor-engaging wheel.

It is already known to rotate carpet sweeper brushes in response to rotation of wheels which engage the carpet and are set in rotary motion when the carpet sweeper is moved with reference to the floor.

A drawback of conventional carpet sweepers is that two wheels must be provided for each brush and that a separate one-way clutch must be provided for each wheel. One of the clutches is effective when the corresponding wheel rotates in response to movement of the sweeper in a first direction and the other clutch rotates the brush in the same direction as the one clutch when the corresponding wheel rotates on movement of the sweeper in the opposite direction.

Such sweepers are bulky, complicated and expensive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the invention is to provide a simple, lightweight, inexpensive and sturdy carpet sweeper, wherein the number of wheels need not exceed the number of brushes.

Another object of the invention is to provide a carpet sweeper wherein matter collected by the brushes is automatically accumulated in a readily accessible dust receptacle.

A further object of the invention is to provide a carpet sweeper arranged with simple transmissions between the wheel and corresponding brushes of the sweeper.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a carpet sweeper wherein the intensity of the sweeping action is adjustable within a desired range.

A carpet sweeper according to the invention comprises support means, at least one ground-engaging driving wheel mounted on this support means and rotatable in clockwise and counterclockwise directions along the in response to movement of the support means in opposite directions along the ground, a rotary floor-treating member also mounted on the support means and rotatable about an axis parallel to the axis of rotation of the ground-engaging driving wheel, first torquetransmitting means which are in engagement with the groundengaging driving wheel at least during rotation of the groundengaging driving wheel in clockwise direction so as to be rotated thereby and adapted to correspondingly rotate the floor-treating member also in this predetermined direction during such rotation of the ground-engaging driving wheel in the counterclockwise direction.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a floor-treating apparatus according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the drive system of FIG. 1 and showing the support thereof;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the arrangement shown in FIG. 2 as seen from the opposite side; and

FIG. 4 is a top view of the arrangement as shown in FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As shown in FIG. ii, the floor-treating apparatus comprises a support in the form of carriage 5, two rotatable floor-treating members in the form of sweeper brushes 6, 6a, two gear combinations 10, l1 and 10a, 110 for driving the brushes and two ground-engaging driving members in the form of wheels 7, 7a, mounted to the carriage and arranged with interior gears 9, 90 for driving the respective gear combinations. The brushes 6, 6a are mounted on shafts 8, 8a and rotatable therewith about an axis parallel to the axis of rotation of the wheels. The shafts 8, extend into the interior of the wheels and are fixedly secured at that location to first torque-transmitting means in the form of spur gears 11, 1.1a, which at the one hand mesh with the interior gears 9, 9a of the wheels and at the other hand mesh with second torque-transmitting means in the form of spur gears 10, 10a.

The gears 10, 11 and 10a, constantly intermesh with one another but alternately mesh with the interior gears 9, 9a. This alternate meshing of the spur gears with the interior gears 9, 9a depends on the direction of travel of the wheels, i.e., either in clockwise direction or counterclockwise direction. For example, and as shown in combination A in FIG. 1, with the wheel moving in clockwise direction, as indicated by the larger arrows, gear 10 at the one hand interlocks with internal hear 9 and is rotated thereby also in the clockwise direction, and at the other hand, the gear 10 interlocks with the brush carrying gear 11 and rotates the latter in counterclockwise direction, and thereby rotating the brush 6 in the same direction. At this time, the hear l1, meshing with gear 10, is out of engagement with internal gear 9 and is idle.

Now drawing attention to combination B, FIG. I, and with the wheels still moving in clockwise direction, as likewise indicated by the larger arrows, the gear position is reversed, i.e., in this combination gear 11a carrying the brush via shaft 8a, is directly rotated in clockwise direction by the internal gear 9a of wheel 7a and thereby rotates the brush also in the clockwise direction. At this time, gear 10a, meshing with gear 1 1a, is out of engagement with internal gear 9a and is idle.

In reversing the direction of motion of the wheels, i.e., changing the clockwise to the counterclockwise direction, the latter is indicated by the smaller arrows, the brush-carrying gear 11, combination A, FIG. 1, will be engaged by the internal gear 9 and be rotated thereby in counterclockwise direction and gear 1 1, in turn, will rotate the brush in the same direction in a shaft 8. At this time, gear 10, meshing with gear 11, is out of engagement with internal hear 9 and is idle.

At the same time, and as regards combination B, FIG. I, and as also indicated therein by the smaller arrows, with the wheels moving in clockwise direction, gear 10a is engaged by internal gear 9a and is rotated thereby in counterclockwise direction. Gear 10a, meshing with brush-carrying gear 11a, will rotate the latter in clockwise direction whereby brush 6a, connected to gear lla via shaft 8a, will likewise be rotated in clockwise direction.

So far, it will be appreciated that with the above gear combinations, the spur gears constantly engage or interlock with one another but alternately engage or interlock with the respective internal gear of the wheels.

In addition, it will also be understood, that the carpet sweeper is movable in clockwise and counterclockwise directions inresponse to movement of the carriage in opposite directions and such, that each wheel of the carriage drives a rotary brush by way of one or two spur gears in a manner that each individual brush rotates in a single direction irrespective of the direction of rotation of the respective wheel.

As shown in FIG. 1, disposed beneath the spur gears 10, 11 and 10a, is an idler gear, 12, 120, respectively, which constantly meshes with and exerts pressure on the internal gear of the wheels about an axis which is parallel to the axis of the driving wheels in such a way that the idler wheels form pivot means on the carriage 5 via which the driving wheels are mounted to the carriage and are caused to rock to and from a first and a second position in response to a change in direction of movement of the carriage.

The idler wheels 12, 124 are arranged to set the pressure of the brushes against the floor in that they are adjustably mounted to the carriage, i.e., the distance between the axis of the idler gears and the floor may be varied, whereby such an adjustment made automatically causes a change in the distance between the spur gear axes and the floor.

The shafts of the idler wheels 12, 12a may be height adjustable by way of any type conventional adjusting means, as indicated in FIG. 1 by the double-headed arrows.

Provided intermediate the sweeper brushes 6 and 6a in the housing is a dirt receptacle 13, which is disposed to collect the dirt sweeped up by the oppositely rotating sweeper brushes.

FIGS. 2-4 more specifically illustrate the mounting of the various rotatable elements of the apparatus according to the present invention on the carriage 5. As shown in these Figures, the carriage 5 forms on opposite sides of the brush 6 a pair of compartments 5a only one of which is shown in FIG. 4. Located in this compartment is a gear housing 5e which is formed of a pair of complementary members abutting with flanges 5c against each other and riveted by rivets 5d at the flanges to each other. The shafts of the gears 10 and 12 are mounted in appropriate bearings provided in the opposite walls of the gear housing 5b and the shaft 8 of the gear is likewise mounted in bearings provided on opposite walls of the gear housing 5b, but this shaft extends through the inner wall of the carriage 5 and is also mounted in an appropriate bearing therein, whereas the extension of shaft 8 supports the brush 6. The shaft 8 is therefore not only supported in the walls of the gear housing but also in the walls of the carriage so that the hear housing could turn about the axis of the shaft 8. To prevent such turning, the outer faces of the flanges 5c are provided with noses 5e, best shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, which cooperate with corresponding noses provided in the carriage to prevent turning of the gear housing 5a relative to the carriage 5.

Although the apparatus has been described as a carpet sweeper it can be utilized with equal advantage as a floorpolishing machine, or the like. Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention and, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of the following claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended l. A floor-treating apparatus comprising, in combination, a support; at least one ground-engaging driving wheel connected to said support and rotatable in clockwise and counterclockwise direction in response to movement of said support in opposite directions along the ground, the axis of said floorengaging driving wheel being movable with reference to said support between first nd second positions in response to a change of movement of said support; a rotary floor treating member mounted on said support and rotatable about an axis parallel to said axis of said wheel; first torque-transmitting means in engagement with said ground-engaging driving wheel during rotation of the latter in clockwise direction and in one position of the axis of said wheel so as to be rotated by said wheel and rotating thereby said floor-treating member in a predetermined direction; and second torque-transmitting means engaging said ground-engaging wheel during rotation of the latter in counterclockwise direction and in the other position of the wheel axis so as to be rotated by said wheel and rotating thereby said floor-treating member also in said predetermined direction during such rotation of said wheel in said counterclockwise direction.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said driving wheel is rockable with reference to said support means about a further axis which is parallel to the axis of said driving wheel to thereby move the axis of said driving wheel between said first and second positions.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said second torque-transmittin means is arranged to rotate said floortreating member y way of said first torque-transmitting means in response to counterclockwise rotation of said driving wheel, said first torque-transmitting means being in permanent engagement with said driving wheel.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein one of said torque-transmitting means rotates the other of said torquetransmitting means in response to rotation of said driving wheel in either direction. said first 5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said driving wheel comprises a first gear, and wherein each of said torquetransmitting means comprises an additional gear, one of which meshes with said first gear during clockwise rotation of said driving wheel and the other of which meshes with said first gear during counterclockwise rotation of said driving wheel.

6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 5 further comprising pivot means rockably mounting said driving wheel on said support for movement of the axis of said driving wheel between said first and secondpositions, said pivot member comprising an idler gear meshing with said first gear.

7. An apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein said idler gear is located at a level below said additional gears.

8. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said driving wheel constitutes an internal gear.

9. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said driving wheel constitutes an internal gear, and wherein each of said torque-transmitting means comprises a spur gear, one of which meshes with said internal gear at least during clockwise rotation of said driving wheel and the other of which meshes with said internal gear during counterclockwise rotation of said wheel.

10. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said driving wheel and said torque-transmitting means each are provided with mating teeth, and further comprising means for shielding said teeth from impurities.

11. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said support is provided with a compartment at least partially accommodating said torque-transmitting means and accommodating a portion of said wheel.

* l i i 

1. A floor-treating apparatus comprising, in combination, a support; at least one ground-engaging driving wheel connected to said support and rotatable in clockwise and counteRclockwise direction in response to movement of said support in opposite directions along the ground, the axis of said floor-engaging driving wheel being movable with reference to said support between first nd second positions in response to a change of movement of said support; a rotary floor treating member mounted on said support and rotatable about an axis parallel to said axis of said wheel; first torque-transmitting means in engagement with said ground-engaging driving wheel during rotation of the latter in clockwise direction and in one position of the axis of said wheel so as to be rotated by said wheel and rotating thereby said floor-treating member in a predetermined direction; and second torque-transmitting means engaging said ground-engaging wheel during rotation of the latter in counterclockwise direction and in the other position of the wheel axis so as to be rotated by said wheel and rotating thereby said floor-treating member also in said predetermined direction during such rotation of said wheel in said counterclockwise direction.
 2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said driving wheel is rockable with reference to said support means about a further axis which is parallel to the axis of said driving wheel to thereby move the axis of said driving wheel between said first and second positions.
 3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said second torque-transmitting means is arranged to rotate said floor-treating member by way of said first torque-transmitting means in response to counterclockwise rotation of said driving wheel, said first torque-transmitting means being in permanent engagement with said driving wheel.
 4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein one of said torque-transmitting means rotates the other of said torque-transmitting means in response to rotation of said driving wheel in either direction. said first
 5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said driving wheel comprises a first gear, and wherein each of said torque-transmitting means comprises an additional gear, one of which meshes with said first gear during clockwise rotation of said driving wheel and the other of which meshes with said first gear during counterclockwise rotation of said driving wheel.
 6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 5 further comprising pivot means rockably mounting said driving wheel on said support for movement of the axis of said driving wheel between said first and second positions, said pivot member comprising an idler gear meshing with said first gear.
 7. An apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein said idler gear is located at a level below said additional gears.
 8. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said driving wheel constitutes an internal gear.
 9. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said driving wheel constitutes an internal gear, and wherein each of said torque-transmitting means comprises a spur gear, one of which meshes with said internal gear at least during clockwise rotation of said driving wheel and the other of which meshes with said internal gear during counterclockwise rotation of said wheel.
 10. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said driving wheel and said torque-transmitting means each are provided with mating teeth, and further comprising means for shielding said teeth from impurities.
 11. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said support is provided with a compartment at least partially accommodating said torque-transmitting means and accommodating a portion of said wheel. 